Stocking



R. K. MILLS Dec. 2, 194i.

STOCKING Original Filed Sept. 12, 1958 2 Shece'Ls-Sheell l Fig. 2.

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Inventor RobertK'flills,

n n n n Patented Dec. 2, 1941 STOCKING I Robert Kirkland Mins, Sherwood, Nottingham, England, assignor to Hosiery Developments Limited, Nottingham, England original sppuoatlon september 12, 193s, serial Divided and this application May 29, 1939, Serial No. 276,465. In Great Britain September 13, 1937 1 Claim.

'Ihis invention is for improvements in and relating to stockings and the like (particularly stockings which are prone to ladder such as those knitted from pure silk, artificial silk and similar slippery yarns or mixtures thereof) and is concerned with the provision of fashioned stockings consisting wholly or in substantial part of ladder-resistant fabric in which the stitch loops are locked by locking loops passed through and around them. Such fabric is first described in the specification of Patent No. 1,960,161 and subsequently in Patent No. 2,123,116 and is hereinafter referred to as fabric of the type specied. 'Ihe object of this invention is to provide a commercially satisfactory fashioned stocking (and by a fashioned stocking is meant one that is shaped by varying the number of wales down the leg) of such fabric.

This application is a division of my prior c0- pending application led September l2, 1938, Serial No. 229,633, now Patent No. 2,191,577, granted February 27, 1940.

In making ladies seamless hose (the term hose being synonymous with the term stockings) upon a circular knitting machine, it is common practice to shape the leg by progressive variation in the loop size, the loop size being decreased down the leg towards the ankle, or in creased upwards from the ankle to the stocking top, according to the direction in which knitting proceeds. 'I'his effect, which is rendered more pronounced by the subsequent boarding to which the stocking is subjected, is usually achieved by an axial adjustment of the cylinder in relation to the knitting cams. In this manner a seamless stocking of plain fabric, which is acceptable only in the cheaper ranges of the trade, is produced. For cheap goods the aforesaid variation in lstitch size is not considered unduly deleterious (its disadvantage being offset by the low price) but it is one of the factors which inhibit the application of the seamless method of manufacture to plain-knit stockings that will obtain a good price.

In the case of fabric of the type specified, there is a certain optimum relation between the machine gauge and the size of the loops and between the size of the stitch loops and the size of the locking loops, which must be maintained if the best results as regards elasticity, appearance,

and resistance to laddering are to be achieved,

(the optimum relation, which varies with various factors such as the material of the yarn and its quality, count and degree of twist, being such that while the locking loop is an efficient lock,

yet no stress or other condition is thereby set up in the fabric that impairs its elasticity or resistance to splitting nor is the sheer appearance of the fabric unduly affected). 'This is a characteristic which is peculiar to the said fabric. Ladies' seamless hose of the fabric specified have in fact been produced on seamless hose machines and have been shaped by variation in loop size. This variation in loop size, however, can only be accompanied by aA departure from the optimum relation just discussed, and the result is an article which is not entirely commercially satisfactory. It may in particular be mentioned that in the manufacture of seamless hose of fabric of the type specified, two incompatible alternatives present themselves. If the necessary compass at the upper part ofthe stocking leg, together with the optimum relation at that important localityiimportant because the fabric in the region of the knee is subjected to severe stress by reason of the exing of the wearers leg and the pull of the suspender) is to be secured it isnecessary to employ a large diameter cylinder and in practice it has been customary to employ for making seamless hose of fabric of the type specified, a cylinder which is some 1A, larger in diameter than would be employed for making the corresponding seamless hose of plain fabric. In consequence, if the stiening is sufllciently severe to reduce the compass of the tube at the ankle to that which is desirable, there is a radical departure from the optimum relation at the ankle, while on the other hand if the stiffening is less severe so as to cause a lesser departure from :l the optimum relation, the ankle is unduly large or baggy. Conversely, if the cylinder diameter be such as to permit of the requisite ankle compass being obtained without too drastic a departure thereat from the optimum relation, the compass at the top of the leg is insufficient, with the result that the knee of the stocking is liable to split.

It will thus be apparent that the manufacture of ladies seamless stockings, of fabric of the type specified, presents peculiar difliculties, and the advantages of the said type of fabric cannot be realised to the fullest extent by the seamless method of manufacture.

It is, of course, possible to maintain the optimum relationship referred to, and at the same time to produce a full fashioned blank, by knitting the said blank on a straight bar knitting machine. This in turn'has its disadvantag'es, however, for in producing fabric of the type specified on a straight bar knitting mainvention overcomes all these disadvantages and diiiiculties by selecting for a stocking -a ladderresistant knitted fabric of the type specified when produced on a circular knitting machine of substantial diameter, and cutting and seaming the tubular fabric so produced. By the expression circularmachind is to be understood a machine in which the loops are produced seriatim along the line of the needles, in contradistinction to machines which, like straight bar machines, produce all the loops ofa course simultaneously. By the expression substantial diameter" is to be understood a diameter which will enable a stocking leg to be produced without stitch variation or without such stitch variation as would be accompanied by a departure from the optimum relation. The diameter must be such as to give the maximum width required (the top of the stocking if the welt is produced on a separate machine, or the welt itself if produced on the selected machine) in stitch optimum.

It may here be said that while it is usual to produce ladies seamless hose on a circular knitting machine of 31/4 to 3%" diameter, in the exercise vof the present invention it is preferred, if the welt is to be knitted on the same machine asthe fabric for the remainder of the leg, to use a machine (say a 51/2" diameter machine) which produces fabric the circumferential .diameter of which is approximately the same as or even greater than the maximum width of the stocking blank produced on a Cottons patent machine. It is in fact known to employ plain fabric produced on circular machines in the production of stockings by cutting and seaming, but this has been done to imitate the more prominent characteristics of fully-fashioned stockings and not to overcome any particular diillculties arising from the nature and structure of the fabric itself, such as -are experienced in connection with fabric of the type with which this invention is exclusively concerned. Moreover, stockings made from plain fabric by cutting and seaming suffer from the disadvantage that the seam is very bulky and is not very sound.

According to the present invention a stocking is provided having at least the leg portion thereof composed of lock stitch fabric of the type specified, said leg being fashioned by'virtue of a variation in the number of wales therein, the fashioning being effected by cutting the leg to shape from tubular fabric and seaming at the cut edges'and the optimum size of stitch and stitch locking loop being maintained with no appreciable variation throughout said leg. Y

The blank cut from the knitted tube may include therein all the portions necessary for the leg, foot, toe and heel, but in the preferred construction the blank is. so cut as to omit at least a portion of the foot and is transferred to the needles of a footing frame and the foot completed thereon. The fabric which is knitted on to the blank by the use of a footing frame may be either plain fabric or it may be fabric of the type specied. The foot may be of any knowngor approved type. If an English foot is to be ,knitted the blank is so cut as to comprise the leg, foot top or instep, and the heel tabs. The inner edges of these heel tabs are run on to the needles of a footing frame and the English foot knitted on in the usual manner. The usual subsequent seaming or linking is thereafter effected.

In an alternative mode of completing an English foot the cut blank terminates short of the toe. A course of loops at the toe end of the blank is run on to the needles of a circular knitting-machine and a seamless toe pouch, followed by a foot bottom is knitted on to it by reciprocation. In a further alternative, the heel tabs may be run on and knitting may proceed from the heel towards the toe.

'I'he stocking according to this invention may be of the Einsiedel type, in which case the blank is cut to include the foot top or instep and the foot bottom (it being understood that the eventualV seam extends centrally along the foot bottom). A group of loops at each side of the blank is run on to the needles of a heeling machine, either before or after cuts have been made inwards from each edge Just below the running-on line, and the' heel tabs knitted on.

During the production of the fabric mockfashioning marks may be produced along suitable parallel, but preferably divergent, lines by tuck stitches or other means, such as loop-transference. Additionally, the lines along which the fabric is to be cut to produce the blank may i be indicated by tuck stitches or other stitch variation. If the fabric is tubular it is folded nat prior to cutting, and therefore a guide line may be produced at the backv of the tube by -tuck stitches or the like, or by omitting a needle, as a guide to assist in the said folding.

As will readily be appreciated, in the production of the. blank, a certain portion or portions of the fabric is or are cut away to waste. The waste portion may be produced by causing the thread laid at each course to float over the requisite number of needles instead of being knitted thereby. This involves the introduction of successive needles in the waste area into, or the removal of successive needles from, activity as knitting proceeds. In order to minimize the length of each float, at least one needle, or a plurality of spaced needles. may be retained in the waste area, so that each thread floats over a plurality of chords of the needle circle.

The welt may be of the automatically turned kind (the machine being equipped with mechanism for the production of such a welt) or it may be produced by folding the fabric over and seaming it in position. or it may be run on. The latter method has the advantage that it minimizes waste, for a machine of the requisite diameter may be employed for making the welt and a machine of smaller diameter'employed for making the fabric from which the blank is cut. Moreover, the knitted welt may be formed with a picot edge, a lace pattern and like effects now popular in welts.

The requisite areas of the resultant stocking, such as the welt, heel, foot bottom, and toe I pouchl may be spliced or knitted f a stouter thread, andthis will be effected either on the circular or independent needle machine or upon the footer, according to the nature and location of said parts, as will be understood by one versed in stocking manufacture.

In this manner there is produced a commercially satisfactory fashioned stocking of fabric of the type specified, said stocking being commerciallyk satisfactory in that it is produced at a reasonable lprice and in that the aforesaid optimum relation is maintained at least throughout the leg or panel with consequent and uniformly good characteristics of elasticity, resistance to laddering, and appearance.

For the purpose of more fully describing the nature of this invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates diagrammatically a knitted tube adapted when cut and seamed to form a fashioned stocking having an English foot.

Figure 2 shows a shaped blank produced by cutting the knitted tube of Figure 1 along the dot and dash line, the out away part being indicated by the marginal dotted line.

Figure 3 shows the shaped blank seamed to form the fashioned stocking, a foot bottom and toe being added as indicated in dotted lines.

Figure 4 illustrates a modified form of fashioned blank cut'from a seamless tube for producing a stocking having a French foot.

In the preferred method of producing a shaped bl-ank, the part or parts of the knitted tube to be cut away to waste is or are composed of float threads, this being readily accomplished by removing to an inoperative position all or the majority of the needles in the waste area. It will be appreciated that the particular method of producing the fashioned blank for the stocking will vary in accordance with the required shape of blank and with the required shape of the spliced or reinforced areas.

For example, the production of a stocking having an English foot laccording to the example shown in Figures 1 to 3 is effected as follows:

Knitting is commenced at the toe end of the instep, the requisite number of needles being first pressed olf so `as to leave in operation only those needlesrequired to produce the width of the instep or foot. A small parallel portion of fabric a (say approximately one inch) is first knitted of locked fabric without splicing thread. Splicing thread is now introduced to produce the shaped spliced portions b at the toe end of the instep and after the required amount of splicing has been eected the splicing thread is taken out and positions h and h1 in the leg fabric where widening is effected, mock fashioning is simultaneously eiected as indicated at i and i1. When the required length of leg has been knitted, a welt is produced, and if desired a picot edge may be formed at the turn of the welt.

It will be appreciated that at that part of the needle cylin-der where the needles are retained in an idle position, the knitting yarn will be floated, and when the knitting of the tube has been completed, the waste portion composed of float threads and indicated at k is cut away, as also are the two portions l below the heel tabs c and the initially knitted portion a, the cutting line l being indicated by a dot and dash line. The cut edges of the blanks are now seamed up at the back of the leg, and a foot bottom and toe added in the well known manner; it being appreciated that the foot bottom m is connected to the inner edges of the heel tabs c as shown in Figure 3.

A fashioned blank for a stockingv having a French foot may also be produced from a seamless tube. In the construction shown in Figure 4 the shape of the foot and of the spliced areas therein is such as to provide a spliced foot bottom n and a spliced toe o, and after the blank has been cut from the tube, a short cut is made along a line p at each side at the position of the heel, and the blank is transferred to a runningon bar and thence to a machine which knits on the heel tabs q. The inner edges r and s are then united on a linking machine. If desired, however, the knitted tube may be so produced as to provide, when cut, a blank including heel tabs but not including the instep and foot bottom (the blank therefore terminating at the instep line) and the inner edges of the heel tabs and the edge of the blank along the instep line are run on to needles of a footer and the foot top and bottom with toe knitted on.

It is an advantage of a stocking produced from fabric ofthe type specified, and in the manner herenbefore set forth, that the seam at the back of the leg is secure and is not unduly bulky. This is because with this type of fabric the out edges are not so prone to run, and the seam pull out, as with plain fabric, therefore in the stocking according to this invention the stitches of the seam may penetrate the fabric very close to the cut edges. Additionally, by virtue of the aforesaid optimum relation being maintained throughout the leg or panel, it will be appreciated that no diiculty is experienced in introducing splicing or reinforcing threads at any position.

I claim:

A fashioned circular-knit cut and seamed ladder-resistant stocking, comprising at least a leg portion fashioned by a variation in the number of wales therein, said leg portion being composed of lock stitch fabric of the type specilied, in which the optimum size of stitch and stitchlocking loop is maintained with no appreciable ROBERT KIRKLAND MILLS. 

